ATV3 How can I tell what res it's playing?

macrumors newbie

Is there any way to tell what ATV3 is streaming at? Say it's playing something off Netflix and it's 720 as opposed to 1080... how would I know that? On my old Roku a little HD would lite up when I was getting HD....

macrumors 601

macrumors 68040

I will ask you a general question: If you can't tell, what does it matter?

I feel like too many people get all caught up in the 720P vs 1080P when most wouldn't even notice. I had my AppleTV2's hooked to my 1080P television and when I upgraded to AppleTV3's, I couldn't tell the difference. Why? Because I sit 12+ feet from my 50" 1080P television and the difference in quality is negligible.

macrumors 6502

Is there any way to tell what ATV3 is streaming at? Say it's playing something off Netflix and it's 720 as opposed to 1080... how would I know that? On my old Roku a little HD would lite up when I was getting HD....

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You can preset your ATV's output to a specific output like 720p or 1080p depending on you Audio/video device capabilities to which it is connected or have it detirme the resolution by itself via "automatic" (also depending on your Audio/video device.

Independ of the input, your ATV will present you with either the choosen resolution or the resolution your audio/video device can handle.
Today, most equipment is capable of up-scaling the video signal to 1080p.
The only way to find out what the native resolution is of what your are streaming is to check the source itself whether it is mentioned.

OP, a lot of TVs will show the video source resolution by hitting "enter" or "info" on the remote. Have you tried using your TV to see the source of anything you are feeding it (including TV)?

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That is not the native input resolution of the video, but merely the output signal as it being preset on your ATV. Mine's is set to 1080p by default, so, my TV will always tell me that is 1080p even with a black & white of Charlie Chaplin without sound.

macrumors 603

So the answer is "no" then. I want to tell cause if I don't have to do ethernet than I don't want to. If I can get 720 or 1080 off my wireless...

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If wire/less is your question, you should be fine with either. Personally, I'm the opposite. If I don't have to do wireless, then I don't want to. Every device that isn't a clear portable (tablet, etc) is wired at my house.

macrumors 601

That is not the native input resolution of the video, but merely the output signal as it being preset on your ATV. Mine's is set to 1080p by default, so, my TV will always tell me that is 1080p even with a black & white of Charlie Chaplin without sound.

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Yes, sorry I misunderstood the question. I'm not sure there will be a definitive way to get the answer to the actual question sought without some way for Netflix to show what (res) was streamed. I'm not aware of some way to force Netflix to try to stream at some minimum resolution so someone could see if their connection to the internet and their home networking options (wired vs. wireless) can properly handle it.

Maybe some other component (like a BD player or the TV itself) might have a Netflix app that passes whatever signal it gets from Netflx native to the TV? That would seem to be a possible way to test wired vs. wireless within the home by essentially cutting the Apple TV out of the equation. Maybe a friend has such a device that could be borrowed if nothing is already in the house? I know some BD players and some TVs both have Netflix apps.

If someone has Netflix streaming running on a laptop or Mac Mini, does it pass native resolution to a TV (when connected directly to a TV, NOT via airplay)? That might be another way to get the answer. And if so, it would be easy to test wired vs. wireless that way.

Conceptually, wired should almost always do better. So if the option is there to go either way, I suggest just going ahead and wiring it. If nothing else, a wired connection would add the benefit of more free wifi bandwidth when someone is watching a Netflix stream on the television.

macrumors 603

If someone has Netflix streaming running on a laptop or Mac Mini, does it pass native resolution to a TV (when connected directly to a TV, NOT via airplay)? That might be another way to get the answer. And if so, it would be easy to test wired vs. wireless that way.

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Not unless you specifically set the video output to match. A computer will just use whatever video settings you have, which will probably be set to the native display resolution.

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